Tagliatelle with chestnuts pancetta and sage

You’ve survived Christmas dinner, either as the role of chef (cooking for double-digit guests) or as a guest (consuming a week’s worth of calories in one meal). At the end of this indulgent day, the sight of anymore turkey or sprouts can be a little overwhelming. Perhaps you’ve managed to use the leftovers up as bubble and squeak, or perhaps you’ve used one of our alternative recipes to use up those last remaining sprouts, but either way enough is enough. This recipe for tagliatelle with pancetta, sage and a festive twist of chestnuts is a simple seasonal supper will be sure to satisfy anyone craving something other than anymore turkey.

The recipe serves 2, but can be multiplied up, so useful if you have a few extra house guests to feed for those additional holiday days after Christmas Day itself.

Preparation time: 10 minutes

Cooking time: 10 minutes

Ingredients:

250g fresh egg Tagliatelle pasta

180g pre-cooked chestnuts – crumbled

200g cubed pancetta

2 banana shallots – peeled and finely sliced

2 cloves garlic – finely chopped

handful of fresh sage – finely chopped

large handful of fresh parsley – finely chopped

large handful of freshly grated parmesan

Knob of butter

Recipe:

Fill a medium sized pan with hot water and salt, brining it up to boiling point in preparation for the fresh pasta.

Add the cubed pancetta to a frying pan on a high heat with a good drizzle of olive oil to help the fat render out. Cook for 5 – 10 minutes or until the pancetta is just becoming a bronze colour.

Add the sliced shallots and cook for a further 4 – 5 minutes, then add the loosely crumbled chestnuts, chopped garlic and sage. Cook for a further 2 – 3 minutes, just enough to release the flavours from the garlic and sage, but not to the point that they burn. Turn off the heat.

Meanwhile add the tagliatelle to the pan of now boiling water, cook according to the packet instructions (which is usually no more than 5 minutes).

Drain the pasta, reserving 2 ladles of cooking water.

Introduce the drained pasta to the chestnut and pancetta mixture and stir together adding the butter, handful of grated parmesan and parsley and a little of the reserved cooking water (to help everything combine and keep a glossy sheen).

Serve immediately, and enjoy as a sprout-free meal over the Christmas period.